Two area teams gear up to defend state titles

As he walks the halls of Pickerington Central, girls basketball coach Johnathan Hedgepeth frequently fields what he considers an annoying question.

“People always ask, ‘Why don’t you wear your ring?’” he said in reference to the Tigers’ state-title prize earned in March. “I think I wore it once, but it’s so big. I don’t even look at it anymore. I don’t believe in living in the past. I like to move on to new challenges.”

That challenge, of course, would be to chase a second ring. Central returns two Division I signees — 5-foot-8 guard Madison Greene (Penn State) and 6-foot senior guard-forward Maliya Perry (Auburn) — plus a part-time starter, Nicole Stephens, and a handful of other talented youngsters.

“I can’t lie — a lot of us are still on cloud nine,” Greene said. “It really didn’t settle in for a couple months. A day doesn’t go by when we don’t walk by the trophy case and admire what we Pickerington Central’s Madison Greene dribbles under pressure from Mason’s Sade Tucker, left, and Anna Brinkman during a Division I state semifinal game in March. The 5-foot-8 guard returns for the defending champs this season.

did. Knowing how hard we worked for it, that’s the satisfying part. And now we get to do it all over again.”

The task won’t be any easier. As Hedgepeth pointed out, the Tigers (28-2 last season) will have to go through a gantlet in Division I, where

Newark, Westerville South, Dublin Coffman, Reynoldsburg and a handful of other schools are primed to contend for the regional title.

“Our attitude in practice is always that we’re 0 and 0,” Hedgepeth said. “Our first priority is just to get through the (Ohio Capital

Conference) Ohio Division, which may be the toughest league in Ohio. We’ve come up with the toughest schedule we’ve ever played to prepare us for it.”

As a result of the graduation of Kyla Whitehead (Dayton) and Bexley Wallace (Penn State), Central is undergoing a personality change.

“We have no real rim protector; we’re going to have to play a little faster to make up for our height deficiency,” Hedgepeth said.

The unspoken goal remains the same, however.

“We’ve definitely got some pressure on us because we’re the defending champions,” Greene said. “Every practice and every game, we’ve got remember that people are going to give us their best shot. Even so, I’d be disappointed with this group if we couldn’t get back to state and, hopefully, do it again.”

At Africentric, which is coming off a Division III title, expectations never change. The Nubians have six championships and have made the final four nine times with two runner-up finishes in their 15-year history.

“The first year I came here in 2003-04, I told the girls our No. 1 goal was to win the state,” coach Will McKinney said. “We went 5-19 that year, but my philosophy is you might as well shoot for the moon.”

Led by Tennessee signee and returning Ohio co-player of the year Jordan Horston, Africentric returns all five starters from a 27-3 team. Each one is considered a college prospect.

“On paper, this is definitely one of the better teams I’ve had here,” McKinney said. “We put together a brutal schedule to challenge these kids.”

The slate includes Division I state powers Cincinnati Mount Notre Dame, Dublin Coffman and Newark and outof-state teams Chicago Kenwood, Long Island Lutheran and Detroit Edison.

And, for the record, McKinney does wear his championship rings.

“I may go three or four weeks and wear one, then switch to another year,” he said. “They all get equal love from me. Some people keep them in a vault or a special case. I keep mine in a sock drawer, and I polish them every day. Winning a state championship never gets old.”